Why Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump Is Right About Hate Culture

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Patrick Stump, Fall Out Boy frontman and at times a pop culture pariah himself, wants you to knock it off with the Nickelback jokes.

The one band that nearly everyone feels okay about bashing has inspired a defense from Stump on his blog, not necessarily based on musical quality but rather principle alone. (Seriously, Black Keys drummer, chill it with the Nickelback disses.) Stump’s point is a timely one in the wake of awards season, when social media explodes with snap judgements and declarations of hate. Why are people more interested in defining themselves based on what they dislike about pop culture rather than what they like?

Hate culture is not a new thing, but it feels particularly out of control at this point in time. It’s one thing to let what offends you offend you, whether it’s sexism, racism, homophobia or just plain poor taste in culture. But what about when the thing you hate doesn’t explicitly offend you? Stump raises a good point in regards to Nickelback, noting that “the misogynistic subtext of James Bond movies offend more of my sensibilities than anything Nickelback ever did.”

Stump has certainly been on the receiving end of this phenomenon, particularly toward the end of Fall Out Boy’s initial popularity and the accompanying re-emergence of “emo” in the mainstream. (For the record, classifying FOB as anything but pop-punk is just plain wrong.) “I hate Fall Out Boy” was not an uncommon thing to heard uttered by an adult music fan five years ago. Time heals some wounds, and because FOB didn’t reach Nickelback’s levels of being hated-on for little reason, their recent return from “indefinite hiatus” was met with quite a bit of excitement. (The band will release Save Rock and Roll May 7; lead single “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” dropped last month seemingly out of nowhere.)